Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Maryland: Tollywood, not Bollywood by the Bay

It looked like Bollywood on the Bay down at City Dock on Wednesday as a stunning, curvaceous brunette in a brilliant sari danced merrily on the steps. But it wasn't. It was Tollywood in our town.

Thirty cast and crew members from the Hyderabad, India, production company, Manoraiyani Movies, set up movie-making equipment in downtown Annapolis at City Dock yesterday to film a sequence in an as yet unnamed film.

Rasool Ellore, the movie's director, sat on his chair atop a camera dolly that rolled on a semi-circular track around the bronze statues of Alex Haley and three children.

That's a tag for the Telugu movie industry based in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In volume, Tollywood has overtaken Bollywood, the Bombay-based movie industry. Everywhere, that is, except in America. Last year Tollywood turned out 243 movies, compared to Bollywood's 223. In Tollywood, Mr. Ellore has produced numerous blockbusters.

With the Market House as a backdrop, 22-year-old actress Sindhura Gadde, costumed in a sequined turquoise sarfi, pretended to wait idly by the cluster of statues. She looked up to see actor Roihit Khurana, 29, approaching. Mr. Ellore signaled to the crew and the distinctive strains of a sitar recording could be heard above the rush of traffic passing behind them.

The couple did a happy dance on the brick steps and collapsed in laughter. On Mr. Ellore's signal, they did it again and again and again.

"This is a feature film," explained the director. "The character played by Roihit has a big imagination. He imagines he's taking her to Annapolis to dance. Sindhura has refused his advances and he imagines, instead, that she's in love with him and that they have a great relationship."

The young actress, Mr. Ellore pointed out, was crowned Femina Miss India World 2005 and was a semi-finalist in the subsequent Miss World pageant in China. She's no stranger to the U.S., having made promotional appearances in Detroit and upstate New York. A former news anchor in Australia and New Zealand, and a runway model, she hails from Vijayawada, India.

The company flew to the U.S. on a 40-day shooting schedule and they brought their own cook.

"I've been in the U.S. many times, but this is the first time for filming purposes," said Mr. Ellore, who calls himself a cinematographic director.

The crew brought its own cameras and supplies but rented additional equipment in the states. They eat together at a production house, where they can edit film, and live together in a rented home.

"We are filming in Annapolis only two days," he explained. "We came here for the warm spring weather."